


Kind of fair

by Charlie0



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:40:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25129444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie0/pseuds/Charlie0
Summary: After six years working towards justice for inmates fate comes back to bite Hermione in the arse. Intelligent women meets a clever unrepentant man with a plan. Lighthearted fun I hope.
Relationships: Antonin Dolohov/Hermione Granger
Comments: 58
Kudos: 85





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t own anything, not even in my wildest dreams.  
> Absolutely new to this, I’ve read tons of fanfiction and it just dawned on me today, after a couple of beers that I could give a shot at writing, if it's terrible let me know, if you enjoy it let me know… and just, you know, have fun!  
> Also, I’m very clearly non english, so if my grammar makes you cringe I am really really sorry.  
> Big hug to anyone who tries reading this!

Kind of fair.

After six years fighting to achieve justice, it seemed ridiculous to plead out, she wasn’t happy, damn, she wasn’t even sure that was justice at all, but it seemed wrong not to go on with it.  
It had been 10 years since the department of mysteries, 8 since the final battle, and by all means she knew she owned him at least the chance to apologise, but it felt fucking hard, the stuff of nightmares really, only the fact that she was who she was forced her to accept what she had to do, because if after 6 years of pushing bill after bill, now that it was her turn she ignored it, everything she had achieved would be for naught.   
So, it felt like hell but she knew she had to go through with it. If Dolohov wanted to apologise she would have to play nice and hear him out.

In the aftermath of the battle it had been easy enough to round all the Death Eaters, the fall of their master rendering them unable to escape, funnily enough, one could say that was intended for all of them, the blinding pain that left them almost unconscious, and therefore unable to apparate away, was probably an idea of their former master, a “if I fall you fall with me” kind of thing.

It would take years of therapy for Hermione to make heads or tails of that night, the only things clear on her memory the apparent death and rebirth of the boy-who-pushed-through-everything and a certain ginger torn between the worst loss of his life and the most expected kiss. 

Even though after the battle it seemed no one would ever be able to keep on with their lives, one year later everything had taken its own course, Harry was blissfully living his best, training to become an Auror and planning his soon coming wedding, Ginny was made of something else, after being left out during the whole “let's go camping” year, it had taken her hours to understand that whatever happened it was bigger than all of them and Harry deserved forgiving. And Ron, well, Ron was Ron, as soon as they kissed he assumed that was it, probably he had it mapped, wedding, children and a life together. Hermione herself believed that it felt right, at least for the first couple months, but after a short time filled with wonderful snogging and promises of everlasting love they both realised that even though they loved each other they were not in love, so without any drama they decided to call it quits and continue as friends.

Hermione, the brightest witch of her age, as much as she publicly despised that moniker (and secretly loved it) went on to finish her N.E.W.T and get a job in the ministry, Creature Relationships, loved it, but it lasted 6 months, that was all it took for her to realise that that office was a dead end, werewolves distrusted anything official, centaurs refused to be seen as creatures and denied all advances from the ministry, goblins were goblin about it and house elves, after fighting the final battle amongst wizards decided they could take care of their own business, Kreacher leading them all. So seeing that she was going to achieve nothing, she decided to take a chance on magical law, and as soon as she got there she decided Azkaban’s current inmates where the most in need of a helping hand, if only to prevent others from suffering the same fate as Sirius.  
It was easy at the beginning, none of the cases she advocated for had anything to do with her, and unsurprisingly Pureblood society was keen enough on giving a second chance to all those aristocrats rotting in cells. But she liked things well done, so she came up with a program where convicts could see their sentences shortened, or even achieve things like parole after completing a program designed for them to acknowledge the new world they would have to leave in, and take the first steps to make amends for what they had done. 

It wasn’t a bad idea, it had worked wonders with the Malfoys, nowadays she was even friendly with Draco, in a very formal way, but friendly nonetheless. It just never occurred to her that there was someone in azkaban she didn’t want to see, ever again. 

The day she received the first notification she was confused, someone had included her in the “interview and apologise” part of the parole application and she couldn't really guess who, the crazy bitch (sorry, witch) was dead and the Malfoy’s where already free, who else owned her a direct apology? When it downed on her she almost had a full panic attack, for some reason she had successfully pushed that particular psycho out of her mind, ten years later she wasn’t really expecting to have to face him, it had been a recurring nightmare at the very beginning of the program but soon after it just faded and she convinced herself that he was to unhinged to even try to apply for parole.but it seemed she was wrong, hence her current predicament.

………….

Meanwhile, in a prison far far away, a man was getting ready to swallow his pride and try to make the fakest apology of his life feel heartfelt. He didn’t want to apologise, hell, he didn’t even believe he had anything to apologise for, at least not as a free of jail ticket, but after more than twenty years trapped in a cell he would sell his mum for a chance at freedom, therefore he was trying to put together the most believable excuse he could.

He never signed up to kill children, that much was true, he didn’t support the monster he found after his first prison break, that was also true and he was kind of relieved that they hadn’t won, even if that last bit was just because the newest version of Voldemort had been utterly terrifying. He could work with that. 

As for the rest, well, no one would ever convince him that muggles were as worthy as wizards, that was absurd, really really absurd, and war was war, people died in battle and it made no sense to go judging them all as murderers, but well, given who won the war that was to be expected. He could have chosen to apologise to a lot of people, but he had a plan.

Hermione Granger, she had been the one to create the parole program, he knew his pleas with any other of his victims would be met with a negative, but she had to set an example, she couldn't deny him a chance when she was responsible for so many others achieving freedom. It had to work.


	2. The apology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First meeting, there we go!   
> Hope you are having fun with this, I'm having the time of my life writing it! Just in case you want to know, I do have a pretty good idea where I'm going with the story, but let's see how it translates into words.

“Come on girl, you can do this, hell, you can do whatever it takes, so deep breath, relax and go for it”  
The thing about living alone is that either you give yourself hope and cheer whenever is needed, or no one is going to.   
And she definitely needed cheering, as finally the day had come and she wasn’t anymore ready than she was two weeks before when she first received the notification. Going to Harry’s last night had seemed like a good idea, forgetting that Dolohov was the one responsible for Gin’s uncles deaths hadn’t, it had let to an argument she wasn’t expecting, luckily instead of her having to suffer Gin’s rage at “that bloody disgusting monster taking advantage of your fucking bleeding heart to be set free” it was Harry the one who had to deal with a really angry wife for not having told her about it, as in the end, the soon to be Head Auror had known about it since the beginning, and while Hermione felt mildly sorry for him, being forgotten in the midst of such a row isn't necessarily a bad thing, so she made herself small, went to the kitchen, grabbed some wine and proceeded to wait it out. It had worked, by the end of their row Gin was spent and felt nothing but sorrow for her friend and with Harry taking care of their children she proceeded to empty the wine stock with Gin and try to build up courage for the upcoming day.

It had worked in a way, at least the hangover prevented her from having a nervous breakdown, so with only twenty minutes to spare she continued to try and tame her curls and hope everyone would mistake the hangover for a restless night taking into account the circumstances.

“Come on Hermione, you’ve had worst…”

In the middle of the north sea the situacion was quite different, Dolohov wasn’t getting ready in any way, he was just waiting for it, the situacion on Azkaban was a lot better than in his previous stint, there were no Dementors, they had showers and they were fed. As for the meeting, he had a plan, and he was quite sure it was going to work, why shouldn’t it? He knew she would feel pressured into accepting his apologies, real or not, and then he would be able to finally leave this godforsaken place, as to what to do next, no idea, but the Malfoy’s where free and they owed him, big time, so with patrons like that, and taking in consideration that he had been quite the brilliant student it shouldn't be that difficult to find a job and get accomodation.

At 8 o’clock there was a knock in the door, Aurors at least understood the concept of privacy, or something close enough as to announce themselves before coming in, he was led to the meeting room, rehearsing inside his head the speech he was going to give. 

Hermione was terrified, but making a good job at hiding it, she was sitting in a small waiting room while the Aurors lead Dolohov into the meeting room, she had been informed that he would be manacled to his chair, and a couple of Aurors would remain in the room to make sure everything went alright. When the Aurors approached her, taking a deep breath she settled herself for the worst and proceeded inside the room.

He wasn’t exactly as she remembered him, true, it had been ten years, but in his case they had been for the best, the last time she saw him had been during the battle of Hogwarts, she had not been able to focus in his appearance, all she had been focused in was trying to make sure she was out of his wand’s range, but she remembered he looked wild as hell, as someone with nothing to lose, the men in front of her was not the one from her memories, cool and collected, that was the vibe he was giving. She had made sure that the inmates conditions were improved, and he had certainly benefited from it, he was looking healthy and fresh, and if it wasn’t for his eyes she would have said he looked good.

Beware of the conditional, she would have said instead of she said or thought, because really, those eyes were a nightmare, as cold as eyes could get, and even though he was politely smiling, the look he was giving her betrayed nothing but contempt.

“Mr Dolohov”  
“Miss Granger”

And then, two minutes passed as no one really knew who was supposed to start the conversation.  
In that time he had the chance to check her out, she was doing a good job at looking calm and confident, but the dark circles underneath her eyes said otherwise, she was a wreck, and that gave him some leverage.

“Miss Granger, I would like to thank you for accepting to take part in my rehabilitation, I believe I own you and apology and probably an explanation, so thank you for being agreeable to hear me out”

Bastard, she had no idea why, but it was kind of upsetting for him to attempt to be polite, anyway…

“My pleasure Mr Dolohov, I could hardly deny you the chance of this meeting, but I have to admit, that I am confused” Like really confused, as on why on earth I’m here. “I would have assumed you would rather choose to apologise to family members of your victims”. And that was true, it had been bothering her for some days. There wasn’t any stipulations as to whom the inmates trying for parole should be apologising, but to face the family members of deceased victims was for sure a safer way to apply for parole.

“Yes, well, I never thought it would do much good, as you see, I believe an apology for the Prewets doesn’t really have much sense after more than twenty years, and the only death attributed to me during the second war was that of the werewolf, so I’m guessing no one would be really coming to accept that one”. It took two seconds to realise he had just stuck the proverbial foot in his mouth. Bugger all, her little polite smile had just turned feral, bad sign.

“The werewolf you say? That would be Mr. Lupin, you know… a war hero, condecorated postmortem after the battle, but then I guess I should have expected this sort of attitude from someone like you, I just thought you would be more careful with your words”.

Really bad start, better to move on. “Sorry Miss Granger, guess the world has really changed while I was away, for the better I hope” There you go, really smooth.

“Certainly for the better, there is always room for improvement but I’m afraid if you achieve parole you might be unfamiliar with the way things are being done now”. Big emphasis in If.

“We’ll see” deep breath, relax, keep going. “As I was saying, I do believe it is more productive to apologise to someone who survived, and as one of my biggest regrets is to have been involved in the ministry's events, I felt it was right to confront you instead of others”. Also, how had she survived still bothered him.

“Yes, I think we can all agree that was embarrassing, and not only because you and that crazy squad of yours went in ready to battle a bunch of teens”

Mean witch, that was a low blow, he would love to attribute the defeat to the reluctance of attacking children, but it would be a lie, sad as it was those kids were more prepared than them, which taking into account most of them had spent 15 years in prison denied of magic shouldn’t be embarrassing, but it was nonetheless, and not to mention the order making full appearance. 

“Well, let’s agree that you and your friends walking out of there in one piece was probably the best possible outcome”.

In one piece… She hadn’t been in one piece, but if that is what he believed she wasn’t going to argue with him, somehow having him believe that he hadn’t hurt her as much as he did felt good, it made him look weaker.

“Anyway, was that your whole apology?”.

“Not really, there’s many more things I should be apologising for, that’s what I hope to achieve with my parole, freedom to right some wrongs, the chance to show everyone that I can fit in the new order, and of course the chance to have a live, I won’t deny that I was imprisoned for a reason, but that was in 1981, it’s been 25 years! I was 21 when I was first sent to Azkaban, I believe it’s time to have a second chance, Miss Granger, I have spent more time in prison than out, I deserve a chance to proof I’m more than just a convict to forget about”.

And sadly, she believed that to be true.


	3. The trial.

She had about half an hour before the first “guest” arrived, as soon as she heard the doorbell she secured her wine glass and went to see who was first on the line to question her about the trial. After her visit in Azkaban she had felt coerced into accepting the apology and publicly support Dolohov’s examination for parole, earning her the hate from some of her closer friends, which although she could understand, didn't make it anymore easy. The Weasley matriarch had been livid, once again making her think that she had skipped a bullet by not marrying Ron, coping with that kind of tempers for the rest of her life wasn’t something she would’ve looked forward at any time.After allowing herself a couple of seconds to get her wits about, she finally opened the door, Ginny and Harry were first, that was going to be easy.

“Hello, no, before you say anything about it, you are the first ones to arrive, you know more people is coming, so, why don’t you both come inside, grab a glass and wait for the next one so I don’t have to repeat myself more than necessary”

Ginny laughed it off “Of course, of course, why not, but hey, anything we can do to help?”

“Maybe fetch some glasses while I change? I’m dying for fresh and comfy clothes, you would think wizards would know how to fix mold..” Only two hours in the courtroom left her smelling like an old and damp wardrobe, it was annoying to the point that she couldn't help but to think they were doing it on purpose, it made kind of sense to keep those old rooms looking as eerie as the were, with all that green and black (so Slytherin), if it made the public feel uncomfy sure as hell those being actually judged had to be terrified. 

As soon as she was changed the doorbell rang again, Gin was the one to answer this time.

“Hi Neville! Nice to see you, no, she hasn’t said anything yet and yes, there is wine for everyone while we wait”

By the time Hermione reached the door Neville was already halfway through, jacket in the hanger and looking as nervous as always, the war had turned him into a confident and proud wizard, but nothing in the world would remove the shyness that made him so adorable.

“Hi Neville! It’s lovely to see you, I wasn’t sure whether you would come or not!” before he could answer the door rung again. Luna and Ron were finally there. 

Twenty minutes later everyone had been greeted, assigned a glass and found a seat in the miniscule room that was Hermione’s living room, it wasn’t a big flat, but the rent was low, the neighborhood lovely and for someone who spent more time at the office or visiting friends than at home it was more than enough.

And as soon as she had everyone’s attention she runned out of words, that was going to be a hard conversation and all of them had a reason to resent her for what she had done.

A few hours earlier…

The first step outside Azkaban made him feel weak in a really funky way, the furthest he got from there the more confident he was that he would make anything it took to never set foot in that prison again, and so for once he was nervous, literally shaking. Everything had gone well so far, while Granger hadn’t been as soft as he expected, and clearly she was in no way convinced that he deserved forgiveness, at least she had admitted that he deserved a second chance, and for now that was more than enough, his only fear was that in the short days she had had to think about their meeting she might have changed her mind.

He new complete forgiveness wasn’t necessary, but her voice in his behalf would make a big impact not only on those holding the trial but also in the public opinion, and he really needed that, getting a job wouldn't be difficult thanks to his old friends, but for once he was hoping for a bit of quiet on his life, and that would be impossible should he have to face and angry mob wherever he went. 

At last, just before reaching the apparition point he looked back, and said goodbye to Azkaban for what he hoped would be the last time.

Apparition took him by surprise after so long, doing it by oneself was uncomfortable, side along was even worse, so the moment his feet touched the ministry floor he was so sick that he forgot himself for a moment, then it all slapped him in the face at the same time, the cacophony of sounds was sickening after so long of only hearing the sound of the sea and the colours made him fizzy, the corridors were full, and although he had been appareted a little bit away for safety and privacy, it made him feel alive, he was set on it, he was not going back to that bloody rock.

He was lead by four aurors into the elevator and straight to the courtroom, of all the memories he could have of that place, funnily enough the only thing he could never forget was the stench of mold and decay, which he always assumed served the purpose of unsettling those facing the jury, he almost wondered if the smell was only present around his chair. Surprisingly he wasn’t manacled this time around, it did seem like the new government was giving a go at looking less medieval, and that little detail managed to give him a boost of confidence.

The courtroom was on the empty side, only the head of the Wizengamot, her secretary, half a dozen assorted wizards, the Aurors that accompanied him and Granger herself, looking slightly grey and pensative. It was a hearing, not a trial, and that could only mean good news for him.

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I’m the High Wich of the Wizengamot Mrs. Frances Goodwin, today we reunite in order to discuss the possibility of granting parole to Mr. Antonin Ivanovich Dolohov, in order to proceed, Mr Dolohov, would you confirm the data we have on you? Name as stated, born in 1960 in Yakutsk, Russia, schooled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry between 1971 and 1978?”

“Correct”

“First conviction from November 1981 to 1995, conviction you were freed from by the terrorist group known as the Death Eaters?”

“Yes”

“Second conviction on 1996 where once more you were freed by the aforementioned terrorist group?”

“Yes”

“And finally third conviction on June 1998. Convicted to life in prison.”

“Yes”

“According to the new legislations adopted by this tribunal, life sentences without parole have been deemed inhumane, unjust and out of proportion, therefore we are granting those who have spent more than 20 years in prison for crimes regarding the War, the chance to apply for parole. In order to be granted such a privilege, we ask from the petitioners certain conditions. First of all we need to see that there is a will to right past wrongs and to apologise for past actions, in this case you chose to apply for Miss Granger, so, Miss Granger, we have already reviewed the conversation you had with Mr. Dolohov, do you wish to support his petition for parole?”

“Yes Mrs. Goodwill, although I believe without surveillance and proper therapy it is unlikely that the inmates will be able to adapt, I do think that after 25 years and taking into account the circumstances and the age of Mr. Dolohov at the moment of his imprisonment he fully qualifies for the program.”

“Thank you Miss. Granger, as we discussed prior to this hearing your support will be made public and therefore it will be expected of you to take some interest on the progress of Mr. Dolohov.”

That was new, what kind of support was she going to give him? As impassive as she looked is was clear that there was a ton of distress trying to break free. She had to had known, for all he knew this program was her metaphorical baby, he would bet everything he had that she was regretting her life choices at that very minute.

“Once that is out of the way, we should talk about the conditions we are putting into your parole Mr. Dolohov. You will be expected to work, you can either find a job for yourself within a fortnight period, job that will be approved by the ministry, or you will be accepting a job proposal from the ministry, which we will select for you. Do you have a preference at this moment?”

“Yes Mrs Goodwill, I would like to be able to contact some old relations to try and find a job by myself.”

“Granted, just keep in mind that for the first year you will not be allowed to interact with convicted Death Eaters without being accompanied by an Auror. Also, and as the last condition, you will have to attend a rehabilitation therapy, do you agree.”

“Of course.”

“Then we will proceed with all the technical aspects of your security, as of today the Wizengamot grants you parole, for the following two days you will be held in the Auror office accommodation while we go ahead with all the documents you will need. Mr Dolohov, just make sure you make the best out of your second chance, there will not be a third.”

And just like that he was free, reinforcing the idea that they had already reached a decision before seeing him, and frankly, he had no words to describe the relief he felt, there was only one thing nagging at him, what the hell was therapy?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, hope you liked it, writing dialogues turned out to be really difficult (terrifying really)... I'd love to hear what you think of this so far! As for updating schedule I'm hoping to be quite regular, once a week if possible, but I'm not making promises, just so you know I do like to finish what I start, so there is something.


	4. Where everything sort of starts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know if you can notice, but there is no method to this madness, I tried, hard, I made diagrams, filled papers with dates, a proper storyline, character development and decided on three short chapters, as you can see all my plans have gone to hell. Now, whenever I feel like writing I fix myself a jar of cocktails, I sit down in front of the computer and write whatever comes to my mind, so at this point I literally have no idea where this is going. Bear with me, it might be fun! and if you get thirsty send me a message, at this point i reckon I can give you every cocktail recipe on earth!  
> Thanks for reading, and please, if you feel this is worth it, or not, let me know!  
> Stay safe

Hermione was finally alone, as expected the conversation had been rough and it had gone on for far longer than she had forseen, and as a result she was exhausted, Ron and Neville had been quite unforgiven, “Couldn’t you be mean for once Mione? I don’t know, say he threatened you or something like that…?” And for a moment she thought for once Ron’s advise was actually good, Neville hadn’t said much, but the disappointment was clear in his eyes. Harry was in the middle, he hated Dolohov as much as the rest, but his sense of justice forbid him from saying anything harsh, even though he had bowed to make sure he wasn’t going to be a problem, and Luna, well, she made as much sense as she normally did, but in general it seemed she wasn’t upset about the whole thing, she did believe in justice at a cosmic level and was totally unfazed with the idea of a new psycho in the streets.

Gin was the odd one, she hated Dolohov, with all her might, but at the same time she was incredibly supportive, years of therapy had made an even tougher women out of her, and following the outburst occured before the first meeting, she was actually being really calm about the whole ordeal.

After everyone left, and feeling depleted she fixed herself a drink and sat down to take a deep breath and try to come to terms with what had just happened. She was partially responsible for him being free, but it wasn’t all her fault, she had been incredibly surprised when they let him go after the first hearing, and it took her to relate it to her friend to realize they had already decided to let him go. She had noticed his interest when Mrs. Goodwin had reminded her that she was expected to take an interest in him, but wasn’t sure he knew what that meant exactly, she would be expected to take a couple of interviews, defend how reasonable it was for them to reexamen his sentence, and later on probably act as a reference in possible job interviews and the like, which was the part she was dreading the most, how could she recommend him for any job? A brilliant hexer? A nice and polite sycophant? A relentless and enthusiastic killer?

And worst of all, the Wizengamot expected her to be his contact out of prison, kind of a parole agent, visit him once he was installed in his new flat, inquire about the jobs he was going to be applying for and all that sort of stuff.

That was going to be so much fun. And so even though she wasn’t a heavy drinker she fixed herself a second Moscow Mule and runned a bath.

………..

The first thing he did after being set in his new apartment was ask one of the Aurors to take him shopping, he was technically allowed to go by himself, only really needed to let them know where he was going, why and for how long, but he reckoned he would need assistance the first time. As he wasn’t ready to face public opinion yet he chose to do the groceries in a muggle supermarket, and very soon that proved to be a mistake and he was infinitely grateful for his Auror escort.  
Muggles had gone mad, and even worse, they did not look that defenceless anymore. The supermarket had been an attack on all his senses, from the lights to the so called music, and he had no words to describe the things muggles called clothes nowadays. At least Auror Coates seemed to be as scared as him, but he actually knew a thing or two about modern society so he went on to tell him about telephones, computers and a hundred other appliances, or at least he tried, but between his really poor knowledge of the aforementioned technology and the lack of interest Antonin showed in the subject it was impossible to say that it had been a successful effort.

Groceries acquired they went back to the flat, and Antonin was left alone to fend for himself. He was happy about it, but it made him realize how unprepared he was to face the most insignificant of day to day things. He hadn’t cooked in his life, and although he was quite confident that potions talent would translate into being able to navigate the kitchen, when the time came he freaked out. Cookies and milk would have to suffice.  
There was also the small matter of how to occupy his time, he had some books that were left for him at the flat, but he hadn’t reached that level of desperation yet, he would rather jump of the roof than give a go at the so called “self help books”, he was already forced to endure the frigging therapy, which had been a shock, he had had to ask Coates what that was.

“Therapy? Yeah, it is basically and old bloke that asks questions about your life and either blames your mum for everything or tells you you wanna fuck her”.

“Your mum?”

“Yep.”

That was disturbing at so many levels that rendered him speechless, he wasn’t going to blame his mum on his poor choices and the other option didn’t even bear thinking about, so he was skeptical as hell, but then Coates didn’t seem to be the sharpest guy on the office, so he would have to give it a chance.

So with nothing to do, and still on a half empty stomach he just took a shower and headed to bed, and as depressing as it sounds after so many years sleeping in a poor excuse for a mattress that night was actually heaven.

The next day he woke up to four owls waiting in his kitchen, and the ordinariness of that made him forget for a whole minute that he was just getting started in his new life. After giving a treat to each owl, and petting them for a while, in a moment of weakness, he went on to find who they were from. The first one was from the ministry.

_Dear Mr. Dolohov,_

_I hope you will find your new living conditions up to standard, you will be granted a couple of days to become acquainted with your present accommodation and after that we expect you to be ready to start fulfilling the terms of your parole, your schedule starting the next monday will be as follows;_

_On monday morning you will receive a visit from Miss Granger, no aurors will be present but they will be nearby, in this visit I encourage you to share a bit of yourself in order to give Miss Granger some grounds on which to publicly defend your access to parole._

_After that, by noon, you will be lead by one of the Aurors on duty to St. Mungos for your first therapy session, I would like to advise you to be cooperative._

_Following therapy you will be lead to the ministry where we will discuss your employment situation._

_As you can imagine we are keeping track of your correspondence, therefore we already know you contacted Mr. Malfoy asking for help on the employment matter; we are happy to notice that you are not losing any time, but would like to kindly remind you to be careful of who your relations are._

_Best wishes_

_Mrs. Goodwill._

Patronising, that was the only word to describe Mrs. Goodwill, he could almost believe that the letter was just a kind reminder that he was being helped, but that last bit was a clear reminder that his freedom at the moment was under severe supervision.

The second letter was from Mr. Malfoy.

_Dear Antonin,_

_I am delighted to know that you have been granted parole, unfortunately I don’t know of any position being offered right now, and as for that favour you mentioned, I believe in the current atmosphere we should probably erase everything that happened during the war and start anew._

_Wishing you the best,_

_L.A.Malfoy_

Oh crap, how could he have thought that Malfoy, of all people, would risk his social standing to help him out. That was a low blow. That was devastating, and it suddenly made a lot of sense for the ministry to give him an appointment to help him find a job. It was going to be hell.  
And of course the third owl wasn’t any better, it was the Daily Prophet, and with just a glimpse of the front page he knew it was about him, everyone in the magical world had just been informed by a certain Skeeter woman that he was free, and it seemed that hell was about to break lose, so back to plan one, he would have to earn Grangers sympathy at any cost.

The fourth owl turned out to be the only good news, it was short but to the point and filled him with a thrill he hadn’t felt in years.

_Mr Dolohov,_

_You are expected on Monday at 4 PM to take the measurements of your new wand._

_Olivander._

He was going to have a wand, with a trace probably, restricted for sure, but a wand nonetheless. He was going to be a proper Wizard again. So mood slightly raised he went on to try an work out how to use a kettle, a fresh morning called for fresh tea.


	5. Fresh Start.

Hermione was getting ready, she had been doing so for the last two hours, for some reason she was second guessing every single decision, her everyday clothes had been tossed away after thinking that maybe they were to revealing to a man that hadn’t touched a woman for god knows how long, and after that, everything had been a major problem, should she wear makeup? Tame her hair? Wear heels? For someone who normally wouldn't give a second thought to these kinds of matters it was rapidly getting out of hand. 

Finally she decided on being her normal everyday self and began the process of overthinking how that meeting was going to be.

So far word on him getting paroled had already hit the streets courtesy of Skeeter, thankfully her involvement was still unknown, so at least she was granted some time to decide on how to face that. Logically she would need to get to know him a little better, and although that didn’t sound like a big deal, for her it was. She wanted to avoid certain subjects for the first meeting, which included every life choice he had made, and therefore finding something to talk about was really going to be challenging. So right before she could start considering leaving the wizarding world she got her bag, took a deep breath and apareated to his flat. 

The building was for a lack of better words grey, the most regular looking average storybuilding she could imagine just a few blocks away from the Leaky and falling into the muggle side. They had taken the general animosity against paroled Death Eaters in consideration and decided it would be safer for everyone if they could relocate them just a bit away from the all-knowing public eye. Two minutes into frightfully examining the main entrance she detected a tiny shimmer on both sides of the door and concluded those would be the Aurors guarding the main door against unwanted visits, she had been informed that there would be reinforcements ready in case anything went wrong, so having spotted them she felt a surge of confidence, shaked her nerves and proceeded into the building ready for whatever might come.

After a couple of days on his own Antonin wasn’t feeling confident about the incoming visit, as far as he was aware the main point of these meetings was for Mis Granger to get to know him a little bit better so she would have something to say in his favour, and even though that in itself wasn’t intimidating he was struggling to see where would they go for common ground. He wasn’t good with iddle chat, having always been a man of few words and unfortunately more than half his life spent in prison meant that outside of discussing his past there was nothing he could really talk about, Auror Coates had once again surprisingly been sympathetic, and tried to provide him some insight on Miss Granger, but however well intentioned it had been, sadly the only things he knew about her were more or less public domain, such as her being bookish, extremely intelligent and generally well meaning, although everyone knew she had a mean side and wasn’t one to be trifled with. So unready as he was, when the bell rang he took a last look at his living room, made sure everything was in order and answered the door.

“Good morning Miss Granger, do come inside.”

“Good Morning Mr. Dolohov, thanks.” She shed her coat, hung it on the wall next to the door and followed him inside. “I brought some pastries, I thought we could have some breakfast.”

“Thank you, of course, would you like some tea?”

“Please, black tea will be fine.”

As Antonin went to the kitchen to prepare some tea Hermione took a look around the living, it was neat and clean, which wasn’t a big surprise given that he had only been in there for a few days, after a couple of minutes she noticed something odd about the decoration just as Dolohov was coming back with a couple mugs of tea.

“It is a nice flat Mr Dolohov, but I see you haven’t had time to put anything personal, such as photos in it yet.”

It was an awkward observation to make, she noticed as soon as the comment left her lips and he seemed to be slightly annoyed about it.

“Well, Azkaban didn’t really keep any of my personal objects, and after 25 years anything that might be stored either in the ministry or elsewhere has probably been destroyed, so no, I have nothing personal mostly because I don’t own anything anymore.”

“Sorry, I assumed that maybe your family…”

“Long gone, nothing left that I am aware of.”

“Well, it seems that I am great at chatting, doesn’t it?”

And with that all the tension was gone in a second, Hermione was stiffing a stupid giggle at her own silliness while Antonin outrigh burst off laughing, after that she couldn’t hold it any longer and they both spent a good whole minute laughing, somehow, knowing they were both lost as on how they should aproach the situation made them feel a lot more confident, and so Antonin disregarded the table and went straight onto the armchairs still holding both mugs of tea and signaling Hermione to leave the pastries onto the small coffe table in between.

“I am honestly lost on what we are supposed to do.” Hermione broke the silence while grabbing her mug. “I really don’t know, I don’t mean to be rude, but the only reason I agreed to all of this is because in a way I was the one who set all the gears in motion, but being honest I’m not sure about what I’m doing and I don’t know how the previous people on the program did it.” 

“Neither do I, I’m thrilled to be free, but I don’t know what to do with it. I was sure I was going to die in prison this time around, I just never really thought about what I would do otherwise. I was incarcerated when I was a lot younger than you, it’s not as if I had much time to figure myself out.”

“I get it, not that I had a lot of time to think about myself before the war ended, after that it took me a lot of therapy to learn how to patch things up and move on with my life.”

“I guess some day we will have to talk about the war, would you mind if we ignore it for today? I don’t think it is the best subject if we are supposed to be getting to know each other, maybe at a later time, but I don’t think we should start there.”

“Agreed. I guess we could start with something more mild, do you like to read?”

He couldn't help the grin spreading through his face, how very predictable.

“I used to, but I haven't read a book in years, the last chance I got was at Malfoy Manor… Sour topic?” Her face had gone white.

“Very, but do go on, I see you have quite a lot of books here, haven’t you tried any?”

“Have you looked at them?”

Curiosity peaked, she approached the library, it seemed that most of them were by the same author, bugger, Paulo Coelho, what were the Aurors thinking about, were they hoping he was going to jump off the window after a bit of flawed introspection? Not that she would be terribly sorry about that, but it did seem a bit too cruel to her.

“I see, I wouldn't touch them either.” And she went on before she could really think about it. “I’ll owl you some decent ones soon.” 

“Thanks, I would appreciate that. Also, I’m supposed to be learning more about muggles and muggle culture, do you think you have something that could help in that?”

“Sure, are you really interested though?”

“Of course. I’m sure my previous ideas were mostly due to lack of knowledge, I’d like to work on that.” 

It was a lie, a blatant one, his dislike of muggles wasn’t due to lack of knowledge or interest, they were just what he believed the logical reaction to such useless creatures was. He wasn’t afraid of them, he pitied them, they were defenceless, and in his mind, anyone who felt defenseless whas prone to attack sooner or later. 

As for mudbloods, he was mostly indifferent, he had never believed the crazy theories about magic theft, but they were brought up by muggles and therefore could end up being a liability. Nonetheless he knew if he wanted to succeed in getting his freedom fully back he would have to learn how to hide his real thoughts. 

After that they made little chat for about fifteen minutes until Hermione pointed out it was time for her to go. She wished him good luck in the ministry and left feeling slightly reassured and hoping that maybe this wasn’t going to be as difficult as she initially thought.

Just as he closed the door Auror Coates opened the neighbouring door to check that everything had been alright.

“Miss Granger, hope everything was fine, he is really making an effort so we do trust him quite a lot. Anyways, I wasn’t on time to let you know when you arrived, but we have an office here, if you need us you know where to find us.”

“Thanks Auror Coates, it was fine. Seeing the Aurors downstairs guarding the door made me feel a lot safer.”

“There are no Aurors in the front door…”

“Shit.”

………………

Therapy was a weird thing, the Aurors had seemed off kilter for some reason and hadn’t given him any directions, so he was quite at a loss when the session had started, his therapist was young, very young, so young in fact that he was probably at Hogwarts by the final battle and even though that had make him nervous he proceeded to treat him like a complete stranger.

It had been a lot less taxing than he had expected, as basically Healer Corner had introduced him to what therapy would entail, he made no mention at the weird theories Auror Coates had, but explained that they would be working on making peace with Antonin’s past, as if needed, and giving him the tools to work in his future. Overall it had been a presentation, and he was curious as to how all of that was going to work.

After the short session he had been led to the ministry, and there the reality of how hard winning his freedom was going to be finally hit home. As his mail was being surveyed they were already aware that his plan to get a job from Malfoy had failed, and so they were more than eager to help him find an occupation, what they weren’t willing to do was take into account any of his ideas, the consultation had been long and boring and by the end of it he was sure they were headset on finding the most humiliating job they could for him, two hours later he was out of the ministry carrying a folder with options for him to review and pick, each one worse than the previous one.

Luckily for him the next stop was Ollivanders, and as soon as he entered the little shop he felt his fingers tingle with anticipation. The shop was just as he remembered, small, filled to the brim and so dusty it was difficult to breath yet it holded so much power that just by looking around you could believe magic was almost visible. Ollivander seemed to produce himself out of thin air, and immediately ended any good vibe Antonin had been experiencing.

“Good afternoon Ollivander, glad to see you.”

“You should, I’m not.”

Wait, what?... Malfoy Manor, the dungeons, it had completely slipped from Antonin’s mind, guess the man had every reason to be a tad sensitive. But as far as he was aware Ollivander couldn’t refuse to sell him a wand if the ministry had approved.

“I remember your first wand Dolohov, Hornbeam and a Thestral hair, ready to follow passion into obsession, complicated and rather unyielding, what happened to it?”

“Broken in battle.” It really stung to hear such critique of his first wand, the day he had bought it Ollivander had praised the sheer passion of the wand, he had walked out of the shop feeling ecstatic, invincible and most of all privileged at being chosen by it, curious how a little history together could change people’s perception.

After a bad start Ollivander went on to find a new match, but instead of the chatty excitable wizard he remembered bringing wand after wand while never shutting up about wandlore he went through thirty very uncomfortable minutes of wand waving while being sneered at.

Finally the magic happened, and there was nothing that could soil that moment, the instant he touched the wand he had felt a familiar heat spread right into his bones, as he moved his arm the air was set alight with sparks and light, he had found a match, and it made him feel powerful. 

“Dogwood and thestral hair, quirky and mischievous, I wonder what will come of this.” Ollivander sighted and took his wand from him without a second look. “I do have to make some adjustments, the Ministry requires to monitorize this wand and to prevent you from using dark magic with it, I should owl it to you in a day or two. Good day.”

And with that he dismissed him. 

………………

Hermione almost fainted when she saw the headlines of the Prophet, just as she suspected the disillusioned people on the entrance to Dolohov flat had been Skeeter and one of her minions.

_**War hero visits Death Eater.** _

_**Love interest?** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, it won't happen again. Promise. I hope.   
> Thanks to the wonderful readers who are taking the time to review, it really makes me want to write more, and faster...


	6. News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, late and short, terribly sorry about that, I’m not even going to try to make excuses, this is a harder job than I ever thought, I just got stucked and didn’t know where to go with it. Anyway, I think I’m back on track, so I’ll try to keep a regular schedule from now on. 
> 
> Hope you like it!

**Letters**

Hermione’s fury was made of the stuff legends speak about, never such a small woman had conveyed so much destructive energy, if someone had been there to witness it they would have been terrified, as it were she was alone, unless you could count Crocks, who had run under the coach after her first sharp breath having unfortunately been present in similar tantrums before.

Skeeter was going to pay for this, Merlin help her, because if after having spent a while in a jar she hadn’t learned her lesson this time she would make sure it was unforgettable, and maybe unforgivable too.

But first things first, damage control was necessary, so taking a pinch of floo powder, she went to the fireplace and proceeded to stroll into Grimmauld place. 

Not having the patience to search the house she went on to scream like a banshee for Harry and Gin, seconds after, they bursted from the kitchen door looking as pale as death; only then it hit her that maybe, there was a tiny and remote possibility that she was overreacting. Oh well, she had the right to. 

“Have you seen the newspapers?”

Harry was confused, or asleep, he was blinking hard and looking out of place. “What? The papers? Hermione, what’s going on?” As he was speaking he advanced forward and started eyeing her, looking for something. “Yesterday was your first meeting with Dolohov right? What happened?”

Gin was looking sick, with a hand covering her mouth in horror, and then it dawned on her, they thought he had attacked her, and yes, maybe her big entrance had been slightly over the top, she was still trembling in rage and finding it difficult to articulate any thoughts.

“No, no, it wasn’t him, that was alright, no, sorry, not him, it was her, HER, that sick bitch, that cow, that, that…. Sod it, I don’t even know how to swear!!” Was it getting difficult to breath? “ Skeeter! That miserable piece of crap….”

“Hermione, breath, in and out, try to calm down, Harry, go and fetch a glass of water, or tea, or whatever, go!” Gin took her to the sofa and sat her down while awkwardly patting her hair. “Sweet Merlin Mione, I’ve seen panic and anxiety attacks before, but never a… what’s the name for this? A full rage attack?”

Harry came back with three mugs and a pot of tea and after serving them saw the newspaper on the floor and took a look.

“Bloody hell! Really??... Mione, we are getting an unbreakable jar this time.”

It took close to an hour to have Hermione calm again, for the most part of it they just let her vent out her ire. Promises of revenge got exchanged, each one more twisted than the previous one, and finally, having achieved reasonable calm they went on with proper planning. Already being in a complicated position with Molly they agreed on Gin taking care of her mum, the accusation was wild enough that anyone with more than one active brain cell would see through it, but better make sure. Harry would contact their friends, it was on the front page of the Prophet so they would all have seen it, so the only thing to hope for was for them to understand she was in no mood to discuss this with each and every one of them, privacy and time to burn the steam off would be highly appreciated, and of course they would have to do something about Skeeter.

“Harry, you have to arrest her.”

“What?”

“You heard me, this is defamation, it is a criminal offence, you have to arrest her.”

“Mione, I wish, but think about it, you are the one who works with laws, it might be a crime in the muggle world, but come on, if it was in the wizarding world, there would be nothing to print, you know it as well as I do, half the Prophet is rubbish, and the other half is gossip and recipes. It is not illegal, you know that.”

Yes, she knew that, the wizarding world might be fantastic, but no one had ever said it was a fair one. When there was nothing more to say she decided to head back home, after refusing Gin’s offer to stay over and try to get some rest, she’d rather go home, contact her boss to let her know she was taking a free day and try to relax, but just as she entered her living room there was an owl waiting for her. 

_ Dear Miss Granger, _

_ After so many years it is a pleasure being able to write a juicy story about you, as you know I’m fully committed in keeping the wizarding world up to speed with what their very dear heroes are doing nowadays. _

_ I would be surprised at your choices, but from your younger days we already know of your interest in famous wizards, at least in this occasion you are leaving the good wizards free to leave their lives.  _

_ It would be my pleasure to give you an interview (first page nonetheless!) so you can tell us how this romance came to happen, visits in Azkaban maybe?  _

_ Hope to hear from you very soon, _

_ Best regards  _

_ Rita Skeeter _

Some people do have a death wish.

……………

Antonin had had a rather uneventful day, after all the errands on monday, he was left free for a couple of days to think things over, which meant reviewing his job opportunities. 

There wasn’t a single one that appealed to him, they were either degrading jobs or positions he didn’t even understand, as it was becoming usual, Auror Coates had tried to be helpful and after reviewing the offers with him he had suggested a job in St Mungos, they were looking for a ward for the Long term Magical Damage, no experience was required, which suited him just fine, and the job description led him to believe he would be basically assisting nurses with everyday tasks such as looking over the patients, cleaning and the such. He had never considered a career in any kind of health related job, but amongst the bad bunch that was maybe the most appealing.

By tuesday night, having reached the decision and already sent his agreement to the St:Mungo’s job he was left with nothing to do but wait for either an owl from Ollivander with his wand or a package from Hermione with books, having received none, he turned for the Prophet, he hadn’t read it in the morning knowing that probably he was going to be somewhere in the pages and not under a flattering light, so when he spotted his name in the front page the fact itself wasn’t a surprise, but the contents were. 

The wizarding world was definitely a safe and quiet place if that dribble got first page. He had to send an owl, and fast.

_ Miss Granger, _

_ I see the quality of periodism hasn’t upgraded in my long absence. I’m terribly sorry to have put you in this position. May I assume everyone will know this is just senseless gossip? _

_ A. Dolohov  _

_ >< _

_ Mr. Dolohov, _

_ One can only hope, unfortunately there seems to be a general thirst for the absurd. Come tomorrow I will contact the Prophet on behalf of the ministry to get the real story out. I was hoping we would have more time, but it seems I will be making my involvement with your case public a little earlier than planned. _

_ Find some of the books I promised you attached, as you mentioned your interest in learning more about muggles I have included a couple of political essays covering most of the last century. For some light entertainment I have also included a couple of muggle novels. Please let me know your opinion so I can deliver more. _

_ Would visiting you tomorrow afternoon be convenient? _

_ H. Granger _

_ >< _

_ Miss Granger, _

_ Perfect, I shall be at home all day. _

_ A Dolohov _

As if he had anywhere to go. 


	7. Second meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! I can't believe how long it's been, sorry....  
> Super short chapter, but I have been overthinking this story too much, so I just figured I would update and see if that gets me back into writting.

Antonin woke up feeling the weight of the entire wizarding world on his shoulders, after careful consideration he realized that being in the news was one thing, being in the news in relation to Miss Granger was another beast altogether. She was loved, no, scratch that, she was worshipped by an entire society and that meant that a single display of discomfort on her side would be his death warrant, also if she was deemed too close to him it would be a death warrant on both of them, so time to be smart.

His original plan was to take advantage of her position, she had been the one to create this program and that meant she would be pushed into accepting his application and would feel bound to follow through with it, at the moment it was working, but maybe it was time to move to step two, sadly he had no idea what that was, so it was time to plan, she would come to visit in a couple hours and he had to get his shit together before that.

First things first, allowing the Wizarding World to believe that they were involved was a bad idea, she would lose all the support she had and he would get back to prison, so the only way to make this work was to let everybody know he was still the big bad Death Eater and she was following through with the parole program, and let’s face it, that wasn’t far from reality. He was no bleeding heart and he couldn’t care less about her, she had been nice at the hearing, and yesterday, she had certainly been nice yesterday, after an awful beginning he had realised she was just lost as him, and that was something to take comfort from, if she was really interested in helping him, his plans were going to work a lot better, on the other hand, if she thought he was a real candidate for redemption their future was looking grim.

She would be there in an hour. Fuck.

Fuck fucketing fuck.

What would come as real concern? Was it time to up the game? 

If necessary he had more than enough tricks up his sleeve, such as flattery and playing nice, but in the end it all depended on how she would explain to the wizarding world their involvement. Would she understand how important this was?

Not a chance probably, she would be thinking about herself, and that’s something she couldn’t be blamed for.

Meanwhile, Hermione was obviously thinking about herself, but Dolohov was never far away from her mind, she was the one to be pitied in a situation like this,that much was clear, but at the same time, it wasn’t completely fair, he had done nothing for once, and it would be cruel to blame him for something Skeeter made up. And anyway, it was time to face him.

So she rang the door.

And waited, even though she felt like running.

As soon as he answered the door she runned out of words, there were no apologies to be issued, but at the same time she had no idea what to say, so she was relieved when he broke the very uncomfy silence. 

“I’m very sorry this has come to that.”

“So am I…”

“Tea?”

“Please”

“I don't really know what to say. Who is that woman anyway?”

It didn’t take long for Hermione to answer, and by the time she was done Antonin was truthfully impressed, he guessed she wasn’t one to take lightly, but that story made him realize just how heavy a grudge she could hold, and that threw him off. 

“How is it that you can hate someone for so long after a single article yet you forgave me, and understood what happened in the mysteries department?”

“Well, it is different, isn’t it?”

“How so?”

“It was different, wasn’t it? You were fighting for something you believed in, something you thought was right, Rita was writing that to become famous. She did go against Harry, and I don’t really think she believed in it, she was just writing what people wanted to read, and that to me makes everything worse.”

“So the fact that I believed in what I did excuses my actions, in your view?”

“Yes, I guess it does.”

“That is a complicated road to travel, don’t you think?”

“Yes, it is.”

That was it, that was the moment that made Antonin change his plans, just the voice she used, the way she looked at him, it made him shiver. She was excusing him, and that only meant one thing, whether she knew it or not, she was lonely, he was attractive, and taking their “relationship” one step further was not such a bad idea.

Also, she was quite good looking. 

And so he went right for it, he sat down next to her in the coach.

“She has no right to go against you, you've proven yourself once and over again, she has no right to be playing with you, you are way too good for that.” And her smile betrayed that yes, this was the right course of action, given enough time she would be his biggest advocate, and let’s see how the wizarding world copes with it. 


	8. Reality

Hermione finally got home with the feeling she had a lot to think about, her meeting with Dolohov, or Antonin as he had ask her to call him, had been enlightening for lack of a better word, he truly seemed worried about her and the whole Skeeter conundrum, and that didn’t feel right, she could understand his worries in case it affected him, but even she could see that wasn’t going to be the case, the story was juicy and the wizarding world still had a lot of thinking to do when it came to gender issues, they would be glad to have a new gossip and of course they were going to blame her, for either being just a silly girl letting the big bad guy seduce her or for being the femme fatale trying to add a new celebrity to her list. The wizarding world might have been grateful for her actions in the war but they couldn’t forgive her for being single and childfree at her age, in their eyes that meant something was wrong with her.   
And he knew that, he might have been in prison for a long time, but he had grown up in the wizarding world so the only thing that made sense to her was that he was using that to his advantage, to what end? Merlin knows, but she hadn’t had much fun for a long time, so when he started playing the smooth card she decided to play coy, and now she wasn’t sure if that had been a smart move.   
Playing with fire had its risks, but well, burn paste was cheap. 

At least she had got something clear, he was making plans on the move, sure if he had thought about it he would have seen that that was the wrong direction to move, so clearly he was lost, not as much as she was though, she still didn’t know what to do next. And maybe she had misinterpreted his moves, but that was unlikely, she was single, not clueless, she knew when she was getting hit on.   
The fact that it had been so easy to follow his game was scary,but then again he wasn’t difficult to look at, and maybe she could have some fun along the way. One thing was for sure though, he hadn’t said it aloud, too clever for that being still in parole, but he would help her get her revenge. 

And that was the big issue at the moment, how to get back at Skeeter. By now she had already published a book on her journey to become an animagus, and how that ability, acording to her, had been crutial in uncovering scandals along the way, sadly if there was one thing Skeeter was not, was stupid, she published the book when everyone was still busy with the aftermath of the war and as a consequence she had gotten away with it without punishment. After that Hermione had been too busy rebuilding her life to worry about her, and now had nothing to go on about, hopefully she would be able to dig something out.

The whole Antonin matter was worrying though, and thrilling at the same time.

Antonin also had a lot of thinking to do, an hour before Hermione got to his flat, he knew the only path not to follow was getting too involved with her, and an hour later he had given her a rather convincing attempt at seduction. What the hell was wrong with him? And what was worse, she had followed through, nothing to obvious, she was far too classy for that, but he had seen the change in her demeanor, she welcomed the attempt, they were in first name basis already and she had even agreed to accompany him shopping to Diagon Alley, and somehow that was scary, even leaving behind that deep down he knew she was way cleverer than to fall for the rogue guy act he had no idea what she was expecting to accomplish with that.   
One thing was for sure, he better be careful, she wanted to get revenge on that woman, and he was on parole, was she trying to get rid of him by involving him in something muddy? It would actually make a lot of sense. Bugger, that made way too much sense, she was trying to play him.  
Barely a week out of prison and freedom was looking grim.

………………..

His first day as a ward on Saint Mungos came too fast and he wasn’t really ready to face reality, a significant number of the patients would be people injured during the wars, known and unknown faces equally, it was anyone’s guess how they would react at seeing him, upon his arrival he found a welcome committee of sorts, he was introduced to one of the healers and the head nurse, who would be supervising his tasks, also there was his therapist, who was tasked with properly introducing and accompanying him to make sure his presence was not a trigger for any bad reactions.

After a long day Antonin went back home with even more things to think about, Hermione being the last of his problems.  
He had thought he was being punished in prison, restrained to a cell with nothing to do for the rest of his life. One day at work and he wasn’t sure being locked up was the worst punishment out there. As a practical person he had never given much thought to his victims, and with only one having survived he had given even less contemplation to what happened to those who were left permanently injured.   
A physical wound might hurt, most of them could be fixed though, and even the ones that couldn’t could be fixed well enough as to live a mostly normal life. He just never thought about the other kind of injuries. Bella and the creepy brothers had been boasting for ages about the Auror couple, so he knew about them, he just never expected to have to meet them, to have to translate the stories into facts, and then have to associate the facts with people.   
For maybe the first time in his life he could say that he went back home feeling pain, and a tiny bit of regret, and sadly he was not really sure how to deal with those feelings. For the first time he felt broken and all his planning felt somehow wrong.   
Hermione would be coming by the next day to go shopping, would she be someone to talk to or had he fucked up in his haste to make a move and try to outsmart her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what I'm doing... please let me know if you think this is going well, I need some feedback before I go further and actually make this more complicated than it needs to be. New year new resolutions, I would like to finish this before 2022, so let's see.


End file.
